Utah showed more fight in its matchup with No. 3 Iowa State on Tuesday night at the Hilton Coliseum than it had in its first two Big 12 contests.
That didn’t translate to a victory, though. The deeper and more well-rounded Cyclones were simply too much for the Runnin’ Utes as they wore them down in an 82-59 result.
That keeps Utah winless in Big 12 action, as it fell to 0-3 in league play and 8-6 overall with its fourth straight defeat.
Unlike those first two Big 12 Conference games, though, Utah’s more sustained physicality and fight — and a get-right night for Gabe Madsen — left some positive impressions after two straight league games that netted little to build on.
“Obviously we’ve been struggling a little bit coming into tonight, but I thought we took a step forward with some things, and we’re not light on losing, but I thought we took a step forward for our team to where we’re trying to go,” Utah coach Craig Smith said.
Foul trouble and a swarming Iowa State defense that led to a season-high number of turnovers were the Utes’ ultimate undoing in their visit to Ames, Iowa.
The Cyclones had 18 takeaways in the game, and that led to 25 points off turnovers. Twelve of those Utah turnovers came in the first half and led to 20 Iowa State points.
That accounted for 53% of the Cyclones’ first-half points.
“When you play a quality team, it’s just hard when your offense is their best offense. When you give up 25 points off the turnovers like that’s really, really difficult to overcome,” Smith said.
Iowa State also had a decided edge from the free-throw line, making 22 of 29 while Utah was 8 of 13. Three Utes — Mike Sharavjamts, Lawson Lovering and Zach Keller — all finished with four fouls.
“When you get in foul trouble, and especially on the road, and then every time you touch a guy, they’re living at the free-throw line, it’s hard to come back,” Smith said.
Iowa State, which shot 44.1%, was paced by Curtis Jones, who scored 23 points on 10 of 17 shooting and added six assists, five rebounds and two steals.
“When he crosses half court, he’s in range. You always feel like he’s going to make the right play,” Smith said of Jones.
Tamin Lipsey scored 20 as well and had a solid all-around night with seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Simply put, the Cyclones showed why they’re ranked No. 3 in the nation, as they took care of business.
“They have great playmaking ability, and they just make you pay. It feels like every time you make a mistake, they make you pay,” Smith said.










Utah, though, had some things to hang its hat on from the effort.
One of the most paramount was Madsen’s return to normalcy on the offensive side. After scoring just seven points in Utah’s first two Big 12 games while drawing opponents’ defensive focus, Madsen was aggressive in getting his shots.
He finished with 20 points while shooting 7 of 19 from the floor and 4 of 14 from 3. He added four assists and two steals.
“Gabe wasn’t perfect tonight, but I felt like he looked a lot more like Gabe Madsen,” Smith said. “He kind of had that look to him again, the Gabe that we know, and so hopefully that can keep trending in a positive direction.”
Miro Little had a nice night, too, with 13 points, five rebounds and three assists, though he turned it over four times.
“I thought Miro had a good night tonight. I thought he really took a step forward,” Smith said.
Utah had longer stretches of physicality and stick-to-itiveness, making Iowa State work to maintain its edge before the Cyclones finally started to wear the Utes down over the game’s final 13 minutes.
That included the Utes owning a 16-13 edge in offensive rebounds.
After a slow start to the game that saw Utah fall behind 15-7, the Utes’ fight started to pay off as Madsen began to heat up. Madsen was the catalyst behind a 15-2 run that moved the Utes ahead 22-17, as he scored 10 points in that run, including a pair of 3-point buckets.
“I think we need to keep working on not changing who we are, and playing against a team like this, we’ve got to remain aggressive and attack and I think that’s when we play at our best,” said Utah’s Jake Wahlin.
Unfortunately for Utah, Iowa State’s swarming defense sparked a long, defeating spurt after that. The Cyclones went on a 21-3 run to end the first half, as the Utes went 8 ½ minutes between field goals and turnover issues slowed them.
Utah manufactured some momentum early in the second half, trimming the Cyclones’ lead to 47-41 on a Madsen 3-pointer with 13:05 to play.
Iowa State, though, countered with a 9-0 run to go up 15 — with seven of those points coming from the free-throw line — and from there, Utah didn’t challenge the Cyclones again.
Unlike the 25-point loss to Baylor and a 28-point home setback against Texas Tech, though, Utah managed to show a better fight against a superior opponent.
And it came in a hostile environment, as 13,496 fans filled the arena for Iowa State’s 10th straight win and its 27th straight home victory.
“I mean, it’s right up there with the best. It’s a hard place to play, and especially coming in and just knowing every night is going to be tough, gonna be packed with fans and they’re loud,” Little said. “It’s a real home court. It’s up there with Kansas and K(ansas) State and Baylor.”
That at least gives Utah something to build on going into a more favorable stretch, at least on paper. Over the next three games, the Utes play Oklahoma State and BYU at home, sandwiched around a road game at TCU.
Those three opponents are each 1-2 to start Big 12 action, though Oklahoma State is coming off a 13-point win over Kansas State.
Utah will host the Cowboys on Saturday at 5 p.m. MST at the Huntsman Center. It will be the second half of a doubleheader with the women, who play Houston at 1:30 p.m.
“We’ll learn from it. This game is going to get us better. I felt like we got better tonight,” Smith said.